Saudade (Published under Indie Pop)

Chapter 19: The Forsaken Land

I decided to run towards the door of my cabin, hiding my face by looking down on the floor and avoiding the eyes of anyone I met. But I didn't see the approaching pirate and it was too late for me to dodge when I bumped on to him. I staggered back and looked up and was surprised to see the captain staring down at me.

"Good thing you're already awake. It's a good day to see the land beyond the sea." He greeted cheerfully.

I remembered drinking with him last night and the tall glasses of ale he offered me. I remembered talking to him about the crews of the cargo ship and that they should not kill them because they were also human. I remembered talking to the captain of the Obsidian incautiously and now, Captain Drakon was standing in front of me, greeting me, as if nothing happened last night.

"When you're drunk, you puke lots of words. But when you're sober, you swallow it all in," he said smiling. I think after last night, Captain Drakon became less scary for me.

"You shouldn't have given me too much to drink. I regretted everything I did last night." I couldn't help but whine at him. It was his fault why I ended up on Threy's room.

"Oh! Did you really regret it? I thought the safest place for you to go is in the place of your protector," He countered.

"I – I..." I probably told him about the Skull last night and I couldn't find a way to defend myself from this embarrassment.

"You were bragging about the Skull's protection last night and now, you can't even talk about it." His smile grew wider and I knew at that moment that the old man was just teasing me.

"Oh, please, Captain Drakon. My head is still aching from last night and this conversation is not really helping me." I frowned at him.

"Alright! But I suggest you go out and take a look of this forsaken land. Who knows? You might learn something you would never know in your precious land." He said and walked passed me. I looked at the entrance to the deck and wondered if I should go. I was curious and the thought of learning something from an unknown land was interesting enough for me. But this curiosity came with fear and I couldn't help but be frantic about it.

I opened the door to my cabin and changed into more decent clothes. These past few days, I was getting used to wearing trousers and simple dresses and I bet no one from the main lands would even recognize me as the daughter of the ruling family in the East.

When I finished fixing myself, I walked out of my cabin and stepped into the deck. The sun welcomed me once again, kissing my skin with more intense heat this time. But what really caught my attention was the enormous island before us. It was almost as big as the West land but not as prosperous as the latter. The Forsaken Land was actually more chaotic than the Borgian Island. It was more populated with lots of houses built from probably low standard materials lined up in the distance. When I saw men, women and children started to run on the seashore towards us--as if they were expecting our arrival--I faltered. I had never been accustomed to things such as this. We sure had poor citizens in the main lands, but not as many as them – not as miserable as them. And at that moment, I wondered what my father would do in this situation.